To sell on Amazon Japan from the US, you open a Japan account through Amazon’s Sell Globally program — from your existing Amazon.com Professional account, or after creating a North America and Brazil unified account if you are new — then pick FBA in Japanese fulfillment centers or merchant fulfillment, and clear Japan’s product rules before you list. Amazon says a business outside Japan “may not be required to form a Japan-based company” (data checked 2026-10-03). That “may not” is where the real work sits: importing, consumption tax and regulated products each bring their own Japanese requirement.
Step Zero: Which Account Path Applies to You
Amazon’s Sell in Japan page gives two starting points (data checked 2026-10-03):
| Your situation | What Amazon tells you to do |
|---|---|
| Already selling on Amazon.com with a Professional account | “create a Japan account” |
| New to Amazon, want the US and Japan | “first create a North America and Brazil unified account” |
Either way, the Japan account is a separate account, not a tick-box on your US one. The same page states that “a Professional selling account is $39.99/month + selling fees,” and that “there are separate Professional selling plan fees for a Japan account and North America and Brazil unified account.”
The fee rule that follows is the one most sellers misread. When accounts are linked, Amazon says “your monthly fee will be either the equivalent of USD 39.99 per month or the sum of the selling plan fees for each region and country in which you have active listings, whichever is lower.” In practice, adding Japan does not stack a second full subscription on top of your US one; you pay the lower of the two figures. On its own, Amazon.co.jp’s Japanese pricing page lists the Professional plan (大口出品) at ¥4,900 a month excluding tax, and the Individual plan at ¥100 per item (sell.amazon.co.jp, data checked 2026-10-03).
If you have not registered on Amazon at all yet, start with our seller registration guide, and compare plans in Individual vs Professional.
Do You Need a Japanese Company to Sell on Amazon Japan?
Amazon’s exact wording is: “If you’re a business outside Japan, you may not be required to form a Japan-based company to sell your products in Japan.” Read it closely. It answers the marketplace question — Amazon.co.jp does not demand a Japanese entity to open an account — and stays silent on everything Japan itself may ask of you. The Sell in Japan page does not cover consumption tax registration, a Japanese address, a Japanese bank account or seller-information display rules; it tells you only that “before you begin to sell in a new country, you should explore how taxes and regulations might affect your business.”
Three Japanese requirements reach a US business without a Japanese company, and none of them is an Amazon rule:
- Consumption tax. Japan’s National Tax Agency sets the taxable-person test at “taxable sales amounting to more than 10million yen during the Base Period,” and a corporation without its head office in Japan “needs to designate a resident(Tax Agent)” for its tax procedures (NTA, data checked 2026-10-03). The standard rate is 10%.
- Customs. Japan Customs says a person living abroad who needs to make import declarations “shall designate a person in Japan as a Customs Procedure Agent,” and the agent “must have an address or residence in Japan” (Japan Customs FAQ 9601, data checked 2026-10-03). Our Germany, Japan and Netherlands comparison lays out the Tax Agent and invoice-registration decision side by side.
- Regulated product importers. For electrical goods, METI bars most foreign companies from acting as the notifying importer — covered in the compliance section below.
So the honest answer is: no Japanese company for the Amazon account, but a resident person or firm somewhere in your chain the moment you ship stock into Japan or sell regulated goods. Get a Japanese tax adviser’s view on your own facts before the first shipment.
FBA vs FBM on Amazon.co.jp
Amazon offers two fulfillment routes for Japan, in its own words (data checked 2026-10-03):
- FBA: “Export inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers in Japan and use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to store, pack, and ship customer orders.”
- FBM: “Ship orders to customers directly using a suite of solutions we call Fulfilled by Merchant,” backed by “a network of vetted providers for global shipping that offer discounted rates.”
| FBA in Japan | FBM from the US | |
|---|---|---|
| Where stock sits | Amazon fulfillment centers in Japan | Your US warehouse or 3PL |
| Who imports into Japan | You, in advance, as a bulk shipment | Each parcel crosses the border per order |
| Resident agent question | Settle before the first shipment | Settle with your carrier before the first order |
| Japanese fee card | FBA fulfillment and storage fees in yen | Your own shipping cost |
| Delivery promise | Domestic delivery from Japanese stock | International transit time |
Amazon’s Japan page lists only these two options; Remote Fulfillment, which Amazon runs for Canada, Mexico and Brazil from US stock, is not among them. (For how Remote Fulfillment works where it does exist, see our Amazon Mexico guide.)
Our recommendation: test demand with FBM on a handful of non-regulated SKUs, then move proven SKUs into Japanese FBA once you have an importer and a tax position in place. The export mechanics — shipping documents, carriers and how inventory leaves the US — are in Amazon FBA export, and the general trade-off is in FBA vs FBM.
Amazon.co.jp Fees in Yen
Amazon.co.jp publishes its fee card openly. Two details change your maths before any number does: referral fees and the monthly plan are quoted excluding tax, while the FBA fulfillment fee table states that it already includes Japan’s 10% consumption tax (data checked 2026-10-03).
Referral fees in most categories now split at ¥750 per item. Selected rows:
| Category | Up to ¥750 | Over ¥750 | Minimum fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electronics | 5% | 8.4% | ¥30 |
| Sports & outdoors | 5% | 10.4% | ¥30 |
| Toys & hobbies | 5% | 10.4% | ¥30 |
| Home & kitchen | 5% | 15.4% | ¥30 |
| Media (books, DVD, music, software, video) | 15.4% flat | 15.4% flat | None |
Source: Amazon.co.jp seller pricing page, rates excluding tax, data checked 2026-10-03. The US equivalents are explained in Amazon referral fees.
FBA fulfillment fees are banded by size, weight and whether the item sells for more than ¥1,000:
| Size tier (packed) | Price over ¥1,000 | Price ¥1,000 or less |
|---|---|---|
| Small: 25 x 18 x 2.0 cm, up to 250 g | ¥288 | ¥222 |
| Standard: 35 x 30 x 3.3 cm, up to 1 kg | ¥318 | ¥252 |
| Standard: up to 60 cm total, up to 2 kg | ¥430 | ¥391 |
| Standard: up to 100 cm total, up to 9 kg | ¥532 | ¥466 |
Source: Amazon.co.jp seller pricing page, consumption tax included, data checked 2026-10-03. The page also links a summary of 2026 FBA fee revisions, so recheck before you price.
Storage is billed on average daily cubic volume. Outside apparel, shoes and bags, the small/standard rate is ¥5.676 per 1,000 cm³ per month from January to September and ¥10.087 from October to December; inventory stored longer than 365 days attracts an extra long-term storage fee.
Proceeds arrive in yen. If you convert them through Amazon, read Amazon Currency Converter for Sellers before you choose a payout route.
Compliance Checks Before You List
Amazon points to two tools on the Japan page: “You can use our Manage Your Compliance and Compliance Reference tools to help navigate product requirements.” Use them, but know which Japanese rules can stop a US seller outright. Run your catalog through these gates in order.
Gate 1: Is it an electrical product? (PSE)
Japan’s Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act covers 457 designated items, 116 of them in the stricter Category A that also needs third-party conformity assessment. METI’s English summary is blunt on the sales side: “Without the PSE Labeling specified in the article 10 of the Act, sale and/or exhibition of Electrical Appliances and Materials is prohibited in Japan.” On the importer side: “it is the importers who have the responsibility to fulfill these obligations,” and “with the exception of the foreign company that has completed register of foreign company under the Company Law, no foreign juridical person shall conduct the Notification of Import Business” (METI, page last updated 2023-04-13, data checked 2026-10-03).
For a US company that means AC/DC power supply units, extension cords, LED lamps and similar designated goods need a Japanese notifying importer — a partner, or your own registered presence in Japan — before they can be sold. Secondary batteries are within the Act’s scope, so check battery-powered products too, and see hazmat review for Amazon’s own battery checks.
Gate 2: Radio equipment and other regulated categories
Anything with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth falls under Japan’s Radio Act. Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications explains that the giteki mark certifies a radio device meets the Act’s technical standards, that Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and similar devices carrying the mark can be used without a radio station licence, and that using a device without the mark may breach the Radio Act (MIC giteki Q&A, in Japanese, data checked 2026-10-03).
If you sell food, cosmetics or medical-type products, check every SKU with Compliance Reference before you translate a single listing.
Gate 3: Seller information display
Japan’s Act on Specified Commercial Transactions regulates mail-order sales, which include orders placed by post, phone or internet after seeing an ad on a website. The Consumer Affairs Agency lists what such an advertisement must show, including the seller’s name, address and telephone number, and — for a foreign corporation or an individual living abroad that has an office in Japan — that office’s location and phone number (CAA, mail-order rules, in Japanese, data checked 2026-10-03). Prepare these details before you list.
Gate 4: The listing itself
Amazon notes that “if you already sell on Amazon.com, you can use the Build International Listings tool to cross-list your products.” Cross-listing copies the offer; it does not make the copy good. Japanese titles, bullets and images are a localisation job — including any English text printed on your images, covered in translating product image text.
How to Sell on Amazon.co.jp from the US: The Six Steps
Amazon’s Japan page sets out six steps. Here is what each involves for a US seller:
- “Create your selling account.” Japan account from Sell Globally, or a unified North America and Brazil account first if you are new.
- “Select your products.” Start with SKUs that need neither a PSE importer nor giteki certification.
- “Complete requirements.” Tax adviser on the consumption tax and Tax Agent question; Customs Procedure Agent if you will use FBA.
- “List your products.” Build International Listings, then a Japanese rewrite.
- “Ship inventory and fulfill orders.” FBM through a vetted carrier, or an FBA shipment once your importer is named. Freight options are compared in FBA freight forwarders.
- “Manage your business.” Watch yen pricing against the ¥750 and ¥1,000 fee lines, and storage costs from October.
For steps 3 to 5, Amazon’s Service Provider Network lists third-party firms for logistics, tax and compliance work.
Common Mistakes
- Reading “may not be required” as “nothing required.” It covers the Amazon account only.
- Shipping electrical goods without a PSE notifying importer. A US company generally cannot fill that role itself.
- Booking FBA freight before naming a Customs Procedure Agent. The agent comes first.
- Pricing with the US fee card. Japan splits referral fees at ¥750 and FBA fees at ¥1,000, and mixes tax-excluded and tax-included figures.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sell on Amazon Japan with my US seller account?
Not directly. If you already have an Amazon.com Professional account, Amazon tells you to “create a Japan account” through Sell Globally. When accounts are linked, the monthly fee is the lower of the equivalent of USD 39.99 or the sum of the regional plan fees (data checked 2026-10-03).
Do I need a Japanese company to sell on Amazon.co.jp?
Amazon says a business outside Japan “may not be required to form a Japan-based company.” Japan’s own rules still apply: a resident Tax Agent for tax procedures, a resident Customs Procedure Agent to import, and a notifying importer for PSE-regulated electrical goods.
How much does it cost to sell on Amazon Japan?
On Amazon.co.jp’s own pricing page, the Professional plan is ¥4,900 a month excluding tax, most referral fees are 5% up to ¥750 and 8.4% to 15.4% above it, and a standard FBA item up to 1 kg costs ¥318 to fulfil when priced over ¥1,000 (data checked 2026-10-03).
The Bottom Line
To sell on Amazon Japan from the US, the account is the easy part: a Japan account from Sell Globally and a fee rule that caps you at the lower of USD 39.99 or the combined plan fees. The work is Japanese, not Amazon’s — a resident agent to import, a consumption tax position, a PSE importer for anything electrical, and a listing written in Japanese. Start with FBM on non-regulated SKUs, then move winners into Japanese FBA.